Bush administration implements medical privacy rules

WASHINGTON -- Brushing aside opposition from hospitals and
insurers, President Bush endorsed sweeping rules to ensure the
privacy of medical files while ordering changes so parents can see
their children's records.

The rules proposed late in the Clinton administration and
quickly put under review after Bush took office will give patients
the ability to control who sees their medical records.

The decision to move ahead with the first-ever federal
protections is in contrast to Bush's rolling back of other
Clinton-era consumer protections on the environment and worker
safety.

The guidelines take effect Saturday, although the health care
industry has two years to comply with the rules.

"For the first time, patients will have full access to their
medical records and more control over how their personal
information will be used and disclosed," Bush said.

The rules require doctors, hospitals and other health care
providers to get permission before disclosing patients'
information. Patients will have the right to inspect their medical
records and request corrections. They cover electronic, written and
oral communications about patients.

Improper disclosure of medical information can result in fines
and imprisonment.

Besides children's records, the administration intends other
rule changes. One would make it clear that doctors can share
information with specialists who are treating the same patient and
pharmacists can fill prescriptions over the telephone.

The regulations are intended to create a uniform standard for
patients who now must navigate state laws offering varying
protections.

"We have laws in this country to protect the personal
information contained in bank, credit card and other financial
records. Our citizens must not wait any longer for protection of
the most personal of all information -- their health records," said
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson.

The Clinton administration issued the rules in its final weeks,
long after Congress tried unsuccessfully to write a medical privacy
law.

The current administration had a chance to review the rules and
did so. During that time, the government received more than 24,000
comments from patient advocates and health care industry officials
who have long fought over the issue.

Under the Clinton administration's plan, doctors and hospitals
would have decided whether to disclose a minor's health information
unless state law directed otherwise. The Bush directive gives
parents access to their children's records, including records on
abortion and substance abuse.

"They essentially say they are going to weaken the rights of
minors," said Ronald Weich, a lobbyist for the American Civil
Liberties Union.

Parents' right to information about their children's records was
one of the few disputes that stalled Senate passage of a medical
privacy bill in 1999.

Conservatives in the Senate opposed to abortions sought to
continue to deny minors any privacy rights. Abortion rights
supporters wanted to extend the new rights to minors as well as
adults -- as long as children in a particular state were allowed to
get medical care on their own.

Privacy advocates generally praised the overall regulations and
said most of the changes did not substantially alter the original
plan.